


I Really Like You

by MoonCat163



Category: Loki Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avenger Reader (Marvel), Brief Mention of Blood, Did you see the Star Wars reference?, Don’t copy to another site, F/M, Fluff without Plot, Injury, Loki (Marvel) Feels, Protective Loki (Marvel), Reader-Insert, Soft Loki, fluffy fluff fluff, just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28256103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonCat163/pseuds/MoonCat163
Summary: Summary: You’re injured while on a mission. Steve and Tony insist that you see a doctor, but you’re pretty stubborn and ignore their advice. Loki comes to your apartment to talk to you, and find that your injuries are more severe than first thought.
Relationships: Loki/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 155





	I Really Like You

When you opened your eyes, you realized that you were staring up at a hole in a ceiling. Your ears were ringing, your side hurt, and a voice screamed thru the comm unit in your ear. You winced while trying to gather your thoughts so that you could remember what had happened. 

“—if you don’t answer me _now,_ I’ll—“

“I’m okay,” you managed to respond, after taking a deep breath, which aggravated your side. 

“Where are you?”

“Uncertain,” you replied, wondering why Tony or the others couldn’t find you.

“Your locator is on the fritz,” Tony responded, as if you’d asked the question out loud. “Help us out here. Look for some markings or something.”

“Yeah, okay, gimme a minute.” 

That minute passed before Tony yelled at you again. You were tempted to toss the comm unit, but knew that there would be hell to pay if you did. So you took a deep breath and forced yourself to move carefully as the pain in your side flared. You sat up first and moved your feet and legs to be sure they worked. Then you checked your arms. So far, so good: nothing broken as far as you could tell. You finally managed to get to your feet, and leaned against a wall for a couple of minutes. 

“Well?” Tony barked. 

“Hold your horses!” You snapped, while you slowly moved away from the remnants of the ceiling from above you. You’d been standing on the floor above when it collapsed as a result of a small explosion. Luckily, none of the concrete had landed on you, but you’d fallen onto a ragged block, which bruised your ribs.

“Are you moving?”

“Affirmative.” You eased away from the pile of concrete while looking for floor numbers or hall numbers. “Okay, it's L10 hall, room R7, I don’t see any elevators or stairwells.”

“What are you doing on level 10?”

“Well, I _was_ on level 11, but inadvertently found a shortcut when the floor opened beneath me.”

You could hear Tony swearing over the crosstalk from Steve and Natasha, and couldn’t help but grin. 

“One at a time, please.”

“Are you injured?” Steve asked. 

“Negative, it would take more than that to knock me out of the game.”

“Stay put, we’re on the way.”

— —

After you were extracted from the building, Steve walked with you toward the quinjet. The others had returned already, but you had to walk more slowly and Steve stayed beside you until he helped you remove your vest so that you could sit comfortably. 

“You are to go directly to the medbay once we land,” he told you, with a stern look. 

“I’m not hurt, really. I just need a shower,” you told him, while ignoring Natasha’s glare as she locked your rifle into the gun safe. 

“He’s right.”

Stunned, you glanced at Loki, whose brilliant green eyes were roaming over you, as if he could see any injuries. He rarely agreed with Steve about anything, especially when it came to discussions of missions after debriefing. You weren’t sure what prompted him to side with Steve, but you were certain that you knew better than any of them whether you needed a doctor. 

“We’ll see,” you finally replied. “After I shower.”

One of Loki’s eyebrows quirked slightly, and you realized that he would likely have more to say, but for your ears only. You weren’t looking forward to that, so you decided to shut them both out by making yourself comfortable and closing your eyes for a power nap. Conversations with Loki tended to circle in on themselves while you tried to read between the lines. He wasn’t always straight forward, and left your mind reeling. 

The trip back to the compound wouldn’t take long, but you could at least get some peace. When the plane finally landed, you stood and retrieved your vest and weapon before heading down the ramp. The brief period of inaction had allowed your muscles to stiffen a bit, but with everyone watching, you tried hard not to let any discomfort show. 

_“Medbay.”_ Steve pointed you in the direction of the elevator. 

_“Shower.”_ You ignored him while heading to your quarters. You half expected one of them to forcibly take you to a doctor, but surprisingly, they let you go. 

Now you were in your bathroom, getting ready to wash the grime off. You did take a quick look at your side in the mirror, and the bruising was worse than you expected. The level of pain was about the same, so you were certain that you’d feel much better soon. 

You managed to shed your clothes without too much effort, and once you stood under the spray of very warm water, you breathed a sigh of relief. You did find it difficult to wash your hair, but got through it, at least until the sudden urge to cough doubled you over. It felt like someone had kicked you in the chest, making it impossible to draw in a breath. 

— — 

Loki allowed you enough time to finish your shower before he came to your quarters to check on you, and to talk. He knew that something wasn’t quite right, even though you wouldn’t admit it. Tony and Steve had let you go on without forcing you to see a doctor, and he meant to remedy that, or at least get you to tell him where you’d been injured; then perhaps he could use seidr to help heal it. 

Your main door was unlocked, so he headed toward the bedroom, after knocking and calling your name several times. When you didn’t answer, he figured you were still in the bathroom. He’d just stepped into the bedroom when he heard the sound of something falling. 

“Hey, are you alright?” He asked, before pushing the door open further. “FRIDAY, get a medic up here!”

He found you on the shower floor, unconscious and with the water washing away the blood that trickled from your mouth. He reached in to cut the water off, and then carefully pulled you out onto the rug. Loki grabbed a couple of towels and dried you off as much as possible after putting one towel under your head. A quick wave of his hand clothed you in a loose gown for decency’s sake, but he did take note of the bruise that had formed on your side. 

“What’s happened?” Steve asked, as he and Tony crowded into the small room, after FRIDAY informed them of the problem. 

“Dammit!” Tony swore angrily when he was able to see you. “She’s gonna be the death of me!”

“Her side is badly bruised,” Loki advised them. “She likely has broken ribs or internal injuries.”

Tony growled again as he stepped away to give the medics room to move you to a gurney. FRIDAY patched him through to the medical bay so that he could brief the doctor on how you’d been hurt.

— —

When you next woke, you were in the infirmary but you didn’t remember going there. Your side still hurt, although it wasn’t quite as painful as it had been earlier. Tony and Steve appeared in the room, so you figured that FRIDAY had told on you. 

“You know, we really should ground you from missions,” Tony told you. “You evidently don’t have enough sense to know when you should get to a doctor.”

His words had bite to them, and your eyes flared with surprise, hurt, and anger. After a glance at Steve, you could see that he’d be no help, although he wouldn’t have been quite so blunt. Despite your best effort, tears spilled down your cheeks when you looked down at your hands. 

_“Get out.”_

Loki’s voice surprised you all, and you glanced up at him. Tony looked around angrily to find that Loki was absolutely livid. Steve stepped back from the bed when Loki came to your side. 

You shrank down, trying to make yourself as small as possible now that your room was crowded with the three men. Loki stood his ground, daring either of them to say anything else to you. 

“See if you can talk some sense into her,” Tony finally said. He and Steve both left then. 

You remained quiet while twisting the top sheet nervously, and didn’t look at him, even when he sat down on the edge of the bed. After a moment, his hand covered yours and squeezed gently. You didn’t know what to make of this, since you were sure that he’d join Tony in berating you. 

“You could have died,” he finally said. “You know that, right?”

“But I was only bruised!” You said, confused.

“No, you broke ribs, which then punctured a lung just enough to cause internal bleeding,” he replied. “I found you collapsed on the floor of the shower, bleeding from your mouth.”

“Oh,” you murmured, softly. “I wondered how I got here.”

“You were in surgery for several hours, so no missions for a while.”

You nodded, at a loss for words, since you’d never been seriously injured before while on a mission. Also, the fact that Loki’s hands still covered yours affected your ability to form a cohesive thought. After a few minutes of silence, his fingers cupped your chin in order to raise your eyes to his. 

“So, if you’re ever injured again…?”

“I’ll see a doctor,” you muttered. “But I don’t understand.”

“What’s not to understand? You were badly hurt and you should have done as Rogers advised.”

“Not that,” you replied, before pressing your lips together. You hadn’t meant to let on that you were confused by his attitude. He’d never been easy to get along with, and you certainly didn’t want to get on his bad side, especially since Tony and Steve were already miffed at you. 

“What then?”

“It’s not really important.” You nervously tried to pull your hands free because you needed to do something with them. Loki let go but took them again when you started picking at your cuticles. 

“Perhaps I should have you teamed up with me once you’re allowed back in the field,” he commented, speculatively. 

You stared at him in surprise, because he wasn’t acting as expected. In fact, he seemed just a bit amused by your reactions. 

“We tried that once, remember, and correct me if I’m wrong, but you told Tony in no uncertain terms that I was not to be paired up with you again. _Ever.”_

“Did I now?”

“It was three months ago, and I’m sure you haven’t forgotten, since you’ve pointed out on more than one occasion that you never forget anything.”

Loki saw your point, and thought back over the incident that had prompted his declaration. Although he really didn’t need the backup, you’d been paired with him, more or less for your own protection. It wasn’t because you were a poor fighter, it was just that sometimes you became so laser focused that you lost sight of your surroundings. When that happened, you were more vulnerable to a surprise attack, as witnessed by your sudden drop through a hole in a floor. 

-

For the incident in question, you’d followed his lead into a Hydra base, protecting his back while he disabled power supplies and computers. You were to stay with him and not engage the enemy unless you were under direct attack. While you kept guard, two Hydra agents surprised you, and for some reason they turned tail and ran when you fired at them. So, naturally, you ran after them, screaming like a banshee; Loki called after you, but you were too far gone to hear him. He went after you, knowing that you were likely running into an ambush, or certain capture. He didn’t expect to see you pelting back toward him, with several more Hydra agents running after you. 

Loki quickly took care of the agents just as you took shelter behind him; when he turned to face you, your eyes were downcast, and you wouldn’t look up at him. He was very angry that you’d done such a thing, had been warned **_not_ ** to do such a thing, and now you were facing consequences for such behavior. 

_Do not do that again._

His sharp rebuke had you nodding fervently in agreement; Loki knew that you were wary of him and his temper but had hoped that causing his displeasure would curb your impulsiveness. He normally didn’t bother with mortals, so his agreement to pair up with you surprised everyone.

-

Now he watched while you fidgeted under his gaze; he still held your hands, so felt every move of your fingers. You were a small creature compared to him and most of the others, and that brought out protectiveness in most of them. When Tony got incensed because you’d gotten yourself into a risky situation, he was harsh and would make you hide in your room. 

Loki found himself drawn toward you, simply because you were so small, vulnerable and so easily injured. At least that’s what he told himself, but the fact was that he wanted to be near you, whether on a mission or not. You were clever, impulsive, gentle and sweet, which kept him interested in you. He wanted to taste your lips, and wanted to know how it would feel to have you beneath him while he made you writhe in pleasure. 

“Perhaps I was too hasty,” he finally responded. “I suppose we could try again, if only to keep you out of trouble.”

You did finally glance up at him so that you could gauge whether he was serious or not. His green eyes held your gaze, and something in them had you doing a double take. 

“Do you mean it?” You asked, quietly, hoping that he did.

“I do,” he replied, nodding. “However, you must follow my instructions, because I don’t want you to be hurt.”

“Okay,” you responded, with a happy smile. Your heart did a leap at his response, making it nearly impossible to hide your relief.

Without thinking, you leaned forward to kiss his cheek, but your lips chastely landed on his as he slightly turned his head when you startled him. Your eyes widened in shock as you laid back against the pillow, unconsciously pressing a hand against your surgery incision. 

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to— I was aiming for your cheek,” you stammered, mortified. “I’m sorry...please forgive me!”

Loki took a deep breath to calm himself, because you _had_ caught him by surprise, although he wasn’t put off by the action. He’d actually been wondering when would be the appropriate time to kiss you, and now his internal question had been answered. 

“Loki?” You asked nervously. 

“Quiet,” he said, just before he leaned in to capture your lips in a kiss that was anything but chaste. 

Your hands tentatively came up to his shoulders, and you were prepared for him to object to your touch. When he deepened the kiss, your hands slid into his hair to grip it firmly, although you were careful not to pull it. After a moment, he moved back slightly and put his forehead against yours while you both caught your breaths. 

“That wasn’t an accident, right?” You asked, while combing your fingers through his hair. 

“Hardly,” he murmured, his eyes closed from your touch. 

“Good, because I really, really like you,” you whispered. 

At that admission, Loki moved back even further so that his emerald gaze met yours. His expression softened, causing you to smile at him, and he smiled back. 

“I really, really like you, too.”


End file.
